Couch-bed.



No. 738,582.- PATENTED SEPT. a, 1903. P. M. TINKHAM. 0011011 BED.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4. 1903.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 738,582.. PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1.903.. 7

E. M. TINKHAM.

COUCH BED. APPLICATION FILED MA! 4. 1903. no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

iio. 758,521

UNITED STATES iatented September 8, 1903 PATENT QFFICE.

'FRANoIs M. 'IINKHAM, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

COUCH-BED.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,582, dated September 8, 1.903. Application filed My 4. 1903. Serial No. 155,629. (Nomodelfl To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS M. TINKHAM, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and useful Improvements in Couch-Beds, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to couch-beds, and has special reference to a bed of this class in which the conversion from the couch form to the bed formis effectedby the lateral extension of the parts, the object of the invention being to provide a laterally-extending bedsection which when drawn out to constitute the bed will locate the mattress or bed bottoms of the two sections in the same horizontal plane, a further object of the invention being to improve the devices for effecting the extension of the bed-section to shift bed construction embodying this invention with the sections nested. Fig. 2 is a similar View of the construction with the sections extended, certain parts being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan-view of the mechanism whereby the bed-section is extended, the

and the other movable relative thereto. The

stationary section consists of the end frames a and b, and the mattress or bed-bottom q,

supported on these end frames, transversely between the legs of which are the end bars 12 and u, on which the mattress is directly applied.

Two side braces g and h extend between the two end frames near the floor, running in a straightline from the inside of the legs of one frame to a like point on the other. The above-described parts constitute the entire frame part of one of these sections. The other one comprises the end frames 1' and j, which are united by the side braces lo and me, enough shorter than the side braces g and h to permit the end frames 1' and j to be located inside the frames CL and b, as shown in the plan view, Fig. 4C. The legs on one side of the frames and one side brace m in this figure show only in dotted lines, however, as the legs on the back side of the frames 1' and j are cut off, as seen in Fig. 2, to permit them to clear the side brace h when the section of the couch of which they constitute a part is drawn out from the first-described sect-ion, the side is carried beyond the horizontal web at each end, and these ends 0 are turned back at right angles to the body of the bar, the extremities of said turned-back ends being secured to said frames. means to offset said bars inside the end frames enough to permit the inner legs of the end frames to be located within said offset, as

shown in Fig. 5, and it also prevents the movable section of the construction in which the end frames 1 andj are comprised from being separated from the stationary section and serves also as a stop to bring said first-named section into proper relation to thelast-named section when the two sections are extended to constitute a bed. This offset in the mattress bars is the same in the bars of both frames a and b, but only the bar on the frame a has been shown in the drawings.

The mattress-bar n on the end frame 1) ex- This construction provides thereof without the offset and is in the same horizontal plane as the bar on the frame a. The outer edge of both of these mattress-bars is perforated with holes 19, as shown in Fig. 6, through which the wires g, which constitute parts of the mattress, may be passed and secured. This mattress may be of any form capable of being supported on these bars 22, and similar bars on the end frames of the movable section. This oifset in the mattressbar 22 on the end frame a further provides for the location of the elbow-levers by which the movable section of the couch is extended in the plane located between the end frames aand 2, this movable section being pushed outward simultaneously from both ends thereof by means of a rotatable rod or tube 2", to the ends of which two arms 8 and t are secured, the arm being on that end next the frame a. (See Fig. 4.) This rod 2" is rotatably supported centrally of the end braces cl and e, the arms 8 and textending diagonally up to the inner upper corner of the end frames2' and These arms and the levers whereby they are made to swing the movablesection of the couch outward and inward relative to the stationary section will be described faras compared with the bars 22that is, with the horizontal web of the L-iron next to the horizontal Web of the bar 22-and the vertical web extending upward instead of downward, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, the edge of the .horizontal web of the bars 22 and 2) being perforated like the edge of the bar 22. (Shown in Fig. 6.) This permits the location. of the two mattresses or bed-bottoms in close proximity to one another, as shown in Fig. 5, and greatly reduces the degree of vertical movement necessary to bring the bed-bottom of the movable section of the couch into the same plane as that of the other bed-bottom.

Small metal'bearing-wheels as are mounted on the vertical web of the bar 22 on each of the end frames (2 and b, the horizontal web of the frame being slotted to permit the peripheries of thesewheels to extend above the plane ofsaid web, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 5, and these wheels support the movablesec'tion of the couch, the horizontal web of the mattressbars 22 and 2: bearing thereon, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, when the movable section is nested within the stationary section, and in this position the outerlegs of the frames 2' and jdonot touch the floor. WVhen this movable section,however,is extended,as shown inFig.

' will be noticeable.

in the same plane that when the bed is made up no difference in the level of the two parts tion, two elbow-levers 2 and 3 on one side of the arm t and two other levers 4 and 5 on the other side of the arm 25 are connected together 'and to this arm and also to the legs of the frame a, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in end elevation and in Fig. 3 in plan view. The levers 2 and 5 are pivotally secured to the legs of the frame a, on opposite sides thereof, at 6 and 7, and the levers 3 and 4 are pivoted by one end, respectively, to the free ends of levers 2 and 5 and by their opposite ends to the arm t at 8. The ends of the levers 2 and 5 where they are joined to the levers 3 and 4 are turned at an angle thereto, as shown at 9, and a pin 10 is secured in the end, projecting outwardly to provide a rest for the foot to bear against to operate these levers. Preferably the arms 3 and t are made in two parts, the upper one, 12, being slidable on the other, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to the end that when theslid-ing section of the oouchis moved in or out the end of the'arm may not project above the end frame, as would be the case were these arms in one piece and slotted at the point of its connection with their connection with the end frames.

In Figs. 3 and 4 it is shown that the end bars (1 and e are provided with two ofisets, extending in opposite directions and indicated by 13 13 on each side of the center thereof, and the central offset is indicatedby 14. The offsets 13, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, provide room for the elbow of the levers 2.and 3 and 4 and 5 to pass the bar d when one pair or the other is flexed. The central offset 14permits the location of the arm t in proper relation to the levers 2 and 3 and 4 and 5. The arrangement of these levers is such that when the movable section of the couch is nested in the stationary section the pair comprising 2and 3 will be flexed and the other pair, comprising 4 and 5, will be extended, and by reason of the shape of the levers 2 and 5 the extended pair will be toggled, thus locking the movable section in an extended or in a nested position,

pressure downwardly upon the pin 10 or the joined ends of the levers being necessary to break their toggled relation.

I am aware that couch-beds have been constructed heretofore in whicha laterally-movable section has been nested within a stationary section, and broadly no claim is made to this; but in the structurev on which this application is based the sliding section of the couch is so located when nested in the stationary section that the plane of the Wire mattress or bed-bottom of the stationary section lies below that of the movable section, but when the latter is drawn out the two vmattresses are in substantially the same plane.

To move this sliding sec- Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, i s

v y; the bars on thestationary section extending downwardly, and those on the movable section extending upwardly; the said bars on the stationary section serving as supports for the movable. section.

. 2. Acouch-bed consisting of a stationary section comprising end frames resting on the floor, and mattress bars extending transversely of the end frames, each of, said bars having an ofiset therein in the direction of the other; a movable sectioncomprising end frames, the inner leg of each of which is located within said ofiset mattress-bars on the end frames of said movable sectionand extending in a straight line thereacross, said movable. section being capable of nesting in said stationary section, the mattress-bars on thelatter serving as supports for the movable section when in said nested position, together with means to move said movable section laterally to locate the mattress-bars thereon in the same plane as those on the stationary section.

3. A couch-bed consisting of two sections,

one of which is stationary and the other of which is movable on said stationary section into and out of nestingposition therewith; mattress-bars on the stationarysection constituting a track for said movable section,

. and suitable wheels on which said movable section is supported, whereby when said section is moved into nesting position it may be raised above the plane it occupies in an extended position.

4. A couch-bed consisting of two sections one of which is stationary and the other of which is movable on said stationary section into and out of nesting position therewith; end frames forming part of each section, and side braces extending between the end frames of the stationary section; the legs of the inner portions of the end frames of the movable section being cut off at a point above the plane of said side braces,mattress-bars on both sections located one above the other in the same vertical plane, whereby the inner end of the movable section may be supported onend frames forming part of each section, a

rock-shaft extending between the end frames of the stationary section, a vertically; disposed arm on each end of the rock-shaft, pivotally connected at the free. ends thereof with the movable section, and toggle-levers on one end of the couch associated with one of said arms to throw it in either direction to move the movable section of the couch into or out of nesting position relative to the stationary section. m

FRANCIS M. TINKHAM,

Witnesses:

H. A. CHAPIN, K. I. OLEMoNs. 

